Rites

87 rites, charms and ceremonies, each told in outline as a custom: a ring of what goes into it, coloured by role, and a drawn frame for every step. Cleanse, gather, circle, speak, light, offer, bind, bury, cast, read, rest, close.

Presented by ClearTrust Customs described as customs, free to read.

RegionAll South Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

Protective rites

Rites that ward a person, house or journey: thresholds, salt, red thread, blessings against the evil eye.

🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 Protective ritesThe Sator squareA Latin word square that reads the same in every direction, used as an amulet in medieval and early modern Europe.🇮🇸 Protective ritesIcelandic galdrastafirMagical staves from Icelandic grimoires, drawn or carved for protection, luck and legal success.

Rites of divination

Set ways of asking and reading the answer: casting, drawing, scrying, and the sessions of diviners.

🇮🇪 🇬🇧 Rites of divinationSamhain and Halloween divination gamesGames of foretelling played on the last night of October, with apples, nuts and a ring in a cake.🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇺🇸 Rites of divinationA tarot readingA reading in which a seated reader lays cards and interprets them for a question, from Italian card games to modern spreads.

Healing rites

Rites of folk and spiritual healing, said as tradition and never as medical advice.

🇵🇹 🇧🇷 Healing ritesBenzedeira blessingPortuguese blessing by a benzedeira, a woman who prays over a person with a sprig of rue or a cross.🇷🇺 🇺🇦 🇧🇾 Healing ritesZagovor, the spoken charmRussian and Slavic spoken charms, recited over water, thread or a person, and often joined to Orthodox prayer.

Luck and love

Rites for fortune, a good match, fertility and a prosperous year.

🇬🇧 Luck and loveFirst-footing at HogmanayThe Scottish and northern English custom that the first person to cross the threshold after midnight shapes the luck of the year.🇬🇧 🇮🇪 🇩🇪 Luck and loveKnocking on wood and horseshoe customsSmall habits of luck: touching wood after a hopeful remark, and nailing a horseshoe over a door.

Counter-magic and uncrossing

Rites against curses, envy and harm: the answer to what people fear.

🇬🇧 🇳🇱 🇩🇪 Counter-magic and uncrossingWitch bottleA sealed jar or bottle, found hidden in English houses, said to turn a witch's harm back on its sender.🇮🇹 🇲🇹 🇺🇸 Counter-magic and uncrossingMalocchio removal with oil and waterThe Italian rite of dropping oil into water to find and lift the evil eye, often passed on at Christmas.🇬🇷 🇨🇾 Counter-magic and uncrossingMatiasma and ftou ftouThe Greek evil eye, and the little mock spit, ftou ftou, said to turn aside a compliment that might harm.

Seasonal rites

Fire, water and first-fruits customs kept at fixed points of the year.

🇸🇪 🇵🇱 🇱🇻 Seasonal ritesMidsummer and St John's Eve herbs and firesBonfires, gathered herbs and flower crowns at the summer solstice, long tied to protection and love.🇩🇪 🇸🇪 🇫🇮 Seasonal ritesWalpurgis Night and May Day firesBonfires on the last night of April to drive away witches and welcome spring, and the May Day customs that follow.